Forever Grateful for RMHC

November 3rd, 2016

Our son, Drew, was in the NICU at St. Mary’s Hospital for 98 days. Without the Ronald McDonald Family Room, we don’t know how we would have gotten through that time. We live in Beloit, so having a place to stay in Madison was important. But much more than that, we were able to be only one floor above Drew’s room. We weren’t a few miles away, or across town, we were right there. We were able to check on Drew at any time during the day or night.

The Ronald McDonald Family Room was also an important place for us to take care of ourselves – to get a meal, the opportunity to do laundry, to have a normal non-medical conversation with a volunteer, and to simply sit down in a quiet place and chew on some cookies for a few minutes.

We always knew about Ronald McDonald House Charities, and we even collected pop tabs growing up. But until we were in a position to use its services, we had no idea what it really meant. When we saw all that was there for us to make our ordeal a little easier, it was hard to hold back the tears. We’ve never used such a nice stove or sat in such comfortable chairs. Thank you so much to the donors, volunteers, and staff for giving us a place where we didn’t have to worry quite so much.

Now, Drew is 18 months old, happy, and on the verge of walking (he sure crawls fast)! We were told he did so well in the NICU because we were there, because he had something to fight for, because there was someone always there to love him. Thank you for making that possible!

– Jon Nelson